Chaffee baseball team edges Advance 6-5

CHAFFEE, Mo. - A.J. Owens may be young, but he has the icy veins of a seasoned veteran.

Owens, a freshman, triggered a five-run third inning with a pinch-hit, two-run double to deep center field, helping Chaffee remain unbeaten on the season with a 6-5 victory over Advance Monday.

"He's pinch hit four times this season and come through three times with hits," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "A man can make a living someday doing that as a pinch hitter."

Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the third, Chaffee tied the score when Alec Bogenpohl reached on an infield error, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Austin Copeland's single to left. Kodi Ballard's single and a walk to Dalton Flanigan loaded the bases, leading Horrell to roll the dice and go with his hot hitter.

Owens responded by lacing a two-strike pitch to the wall, scoring both Copeland and Ballard and giving Chaffee a 5-1 cushion.

"He's been exception as a freshman," Horrell said about Owens. "We always tell our kids when your number's called you've' got to be ready to compete. He got down in the county right away with two strikes, but he battled and got a big hit for us. A great, great situation for a freshman to come through."

Owens said there wasn't much to his process at the plate.

"It was just a fastball right down the middle," Owens said. "I just go up and hope I hit it."

The rally got Owens' older brother, Bailey Owens off the book. The senior right-hander allowed just one hit over 2 1/3 innings but struggled with his control, walking four batters and hitting three more in his first varsity start. He allowed three runs before giving way to reliever Jake Perkins, who allowed two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out five over 3 2/3 innings.

"Jake came in and threw strikes," Horrell said. "He threw a lot of strikes, which helped us, and eliminated a lot of their baserunners. He really settled us down, calmed us down and gave us a chance to win the ball game.

Though no long on the mound, Bailey Owens remained integral to the Red Devils' win. Moving behind the plate after being relieved in the third inning, Owens thwarted a potential Advance rally when his peg to second nailed Alex Moore - who opened the top of the seventh inning with a single - trying to steal second for the first out of the inning.

"What can you say about a kid's work ethic?" Horrell noted. "He comes out, doesn't have his best day on the mound, but he stays in the game as a catcher. And then his younger brother, a freshman, comes in and pinch hits for him and delivers a big two-run hit. Once again, he could've dropped his head and pouted, but he didn't. He stayed in the game and couldn't have been reward with a bigger opportunity to make a play when it presented itself. That was huge."

"That felt good," a beaming Owens said after the game. "You don't want to let your teammates down. You just want to get the out and win the game."

Advance, with several players practicing very little after advancing to the Class 1 state final four in basketball, was playing its first game of the season.

"We've got a lot of young kids, and they've done some good things in the gym, but it's not the same as being on the field," Advance coach Chris Asmus said.

He did like the way his squad was aggressive on the basepaths early, with five stolen bases and perfect execution on a second-inning squeeze play that plated the Hornets' second run.

"We want to run the bases well this year," Asmus said. "Lest year we really struggled and we never really capitalized on those mistakes that teams made, and never ran the bases well. It's an important facet of the game, just like pitching and defense. It's as important as that."

Chaffee (4-0) is also fielding a young team after graduating 10 players off last year's second that went 21-4 and lost to Bernie in the Class 2, District 3 title game.

"We couldn't be more excited," Horrell said. "The kids are excited, the coaching staff is excited. We knew we were going to have some growing paints. Every game sometimes is an adventure, but the nice thing about these kids is they've found a way to pull them out in the end. Anytime we can do that, and they can learn to compete, it's a good day.

Chaffee 6, Advance 5

AHS 021 200 0 - 5 5 4

CHS 015 000 x - 6 4 0

WP - Jake Perkins. LP - Grey Miles. 2B - A.J. Owens (C). Multiple hits - Advance: Brian Whitson 2-4, Alex Morse 2-3. Records: Advance 0-1, Chaffee 4-0.